Celebrating the physics of all that flows with Nicole Sharp, Ph.D.
- Profile
Ship Tracks in the Sky
Line-like clouds criss-cross the Pacific Ocean in this satellite image. Each one is a ship track, a remnant left behind a passing ship. As they travel, ships leave a trail of exhaust that seeds the atmosphere with aerosols that serve as additional nucleation sites for clouds. The tiny particles interact with existing low-level clouds, making…
Culinary Fluid Dynamics
I’ve long been a fan of exploring fluid dynamics from my own kitchen, and I’m far from the only one. One of the pioneers of interfacial physics developed most of her science in her kitchen! Whether you’re cooking, baking, frying, searing a steak, mixing a cocktail, preparing coffee, or simply dunking a cookie, chances are…
Lava Landscapes
Lava flows are, by definition, transient. In his LAVA series, photographer Jan Erik Waider explores the changing vistas and textures of Iceland’s Fagradalsfjall volcano eruption. Using a telephoto lens, he captures incredible details of the charred, cooling outer crust of the lava and the glowing molten interior. Only minutes later, fresh lava tore through, destroying…
Backflipping Bubbles
Rising bubbles can backflip when they impact a tilted surface. As shown in this video, small bubbles will bounce off a titled surface, with each hop leading the bubble further up the incline. For slightly larger bubbles, though, things get a little more complicated. The bubble impacts the surface, bounces away, then circles back and…
Quantum Instability
In our everyday lives, two fluids moving past one another often form a wave-like pattern thanks to the Kelvin-Helmholtz instability. We see it in the curl of waves on the ocean, in clouds in the sky, and even in spirals of lava on Mars. Here researchers explore an analogous instability in the quantum world. By…
Rocked By Waves
This astronaut photo shows the Isles of Scilly off the Cornish coast. The pale turquoise waters mark shallow reefs and shoals between the islands while blues reveal deeper waters surrounding the isles. The sun angle is perfect for highlighting the complex wave patterns caused by the winds and tides. Look closely and you’ll see swells…
Everlasting Bubbles
Soap bubbles are delicate and ephemeral, always a breath away from collapse due to thinning driven by gravity or evaporation. But that frailty can be countered. Adding microparticles to the bubble’s shell in place of surfactants counters drainage and makes bubbles last for tens of minutes (left). Adding glycerol to the mix takes things a…
Frozen Wind-Sculpted Sands
On the cold, wind-swept beaches of Lake Michigan, the sands sometimes turn into a landscape of miniature hoodoos. Strong winds erode the frozen sand into these shapes, which last only days before wearing away or falling over. This photographic series by Joshua Nowicki immortalizes the ephemeral winter sculptures. You can see more of his photography…
Butterflies Emerging
When a butterfly emerges from its chrysalis, it flaps its wings to help pump fluids through its body, essentially inflating its new adult form. You get a glimpse of that process here in this Ant Lab video, along with some spectacular slow motion footage of butterflies taking off. I’m always amazed to see how much…
Stopping The Drop
When a droplet falls on a mesh surface, some of the liquid can burst through the holes (top row). But subsequent drops have a harder time penetrating the prewetted mesh. After a few drops have impacted (rows 2-3), the wetted mesh can completely suppress penetration (rows 4-5). The authors found that the taller drops sitting…